Review: Beautiful ‘Arrival’ is a cerebral sci-fi tale

“Arrival” is such a beautiful and thought-provoking film that it almost single-handedly makes up for every bad aliens-coming-to-Earth film you’ve ever seen. Yes, even “Independence Day: Resurgence.”

The latest from director Denis Villeneuve (“Sicario”) is a sci-fi movie about life, death and learning a literally alien language on a deadline. Amy Adams turns in one of her best performances, Jeremy Renner shows he’s just as good a math geek as an Avenger, and Villeneuve puts a gorgeous and rich narrative on the screen that’s as much about miscommunication among humans as it is communication with extraterrestrials.

Louise Banks (Adams) is a linguistics professor stuck in a deep melancholy after the loss of her young daughter. She’s yanked out of that malaise when 12 huge alien pods shaped like half-eggs descend throughout the world. The government wants to figure out why they’re here, and Louise and physicist Ian Donnelly (Renner) are recruited by Colonel Weber (Forest Whitaker) to decipher the aliens’ inky, circular messages.

Against the wishes of the powers that be, Louise takes Ian up into the spacecraft that has landed in their neck of the woods for face time with the creatures: Louise puts her hand on one side of the see-through partition and a cosmic tourist in turn places its tentacled appendage on the other. Yet while they’re making strides, tensions arise globally as the invaded countries (including the U.S.) lose patience and begin to weigh first-strike options.

Eric Heisserer’s screenplay is a deep and at times heartbreaking gem, expanding the scope of Ted Chiang’s original 50-page “Story of Your Life” novella but also creating something singularly special. Even with a lot of science and technical mumbo-jumbo, the script maintains a needed universality in the way it handles such topics as love and destiny.

Adams, a definite Oscar contender, is spectacular in giving Louise the right emotional balance: She isn't fazed when aliens show up and the rest of the Earth stands still. But a sense of wonder emerges as the linguist becomes obsessed with the alien language, even going rogue when she needs to make everyone else understand its importance.

Give credit to Villeneuve for crafting an engaging subplot with give and take between mankind and the visitors — and for giving Renner a chance to showcase his own substantial acting chops outside of the action-movie realm. Being nerdy suits him just as well as being heroic.

Where “Gravity” and “The Martian” proved there was still such a thing as thinking man’s sci-fi, “Arrival” perfects it with an out-of-this-world visual palette, Jóhann Jóhannsson’s atmospheric score and themes to chew on far past the end credits. It’s best not to discuss the terrific third-act denouement apart from deeming it mind-blowing. The ending makes you question, in a good way, everything that came before.

“Arrival” may deal with the idea of alien outsiders, but it’s much more an internal — and excellent — exploration of ourselves.